Customer Reviews (1)

Historically very inaccurate
In the preface, the author states that this is his personal opinion/interpretation of Jewish history, and it certainly is. The underlying premise of the book seems to be "Assuming that God does not really exist, and the Bible/Torah is not a credible work of antiquity, how can we explain/understand it?' The author takes for granted that the Bible/Torah is inaccurate, antiquated, distorted, and in most accounts unbelievable, unless its accounts are verified by some type of other ancient writings. I don't know why he doesn't hold those other writings to the same doubtful scrutiny he does the Bible, and why he accepts other ancient writings at face value, but not the Bible. Prophecy, miracles and other supernatural phenomena are dismissed as the obvious imaginings of primitive, uneducated, unscientific minds, since, if God does not exist, they could not really have happened. The author is obviously influenced by the classical, anti-God, anti-religious, anti-Biblical criticism of the European Enlightenment, which cannot accept that the Bible might be a credible document, sometimes describing phenomena which, although true, are beyond our limited understanding and scope of present scientific inquiry. He blatantly misquotes and misrepresents many texts and incidents in the Biblical text, to such a degree that I wonder if he really read the passages on which he is commenting, as a simple reading would prove him wrong in his assertions and interpretations. This is definitely not an historical account, but a creative, subjective opinion. I will grant that the author does a good job at describing Jewish history during the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment Period in Europe, but only as far as non-religious Jewish life goes, for which he devotes countless chapters and hours, describing in great detail the biographies and accomplishments of the leaders of the Haskalah, or Enlightenment, who strove to liberate Jews from their traditional, Torah-centered way of life. As far as religious movements, like the Chassidic and Mussar Movements, which have greatly and universally impacted Jewish life since the early 1800s, there is barely a mention, I think one sentence, and then only incidentally, to mention how the leaders of those movements opposed the Enlightenment. In my opinion, this is definitely not worth wasting money on. Instead, consider the works by Rabbi Berel Wein; he really understands and teaches Jewish History as it was and is, without embellishing it with ignorant and uneducated biases. ... Read more

Product Description

Why was a bell added to the telephone? What did telephone operators do in the past? When was the cell phone invented? Take a journey through time and discover the amazing history of the telephone!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not a dull book!
Although the "History of Computers" may sound like a dry and dull subject for children, this book makes the subject very interesting with colorful pages, simple text without appearing patronizing, and very well-chosen photographs.Even the font is well chosen for this age group. There is a Table of Contents in the beginning listing each section.Each double page spread has a subtitle so it feels a little like a "moving-up" book or an early reader. The subtitles, or sections include:Before Computers, Help With Numbers, The First Computers, A Computer as Big as a House, Making Computers Better,Personal Computers, Computer Programs, A Mouse Helps Out, Computers to Take with You, The Internet, The World Wide Web, How Computers Changed Life, Timeline, World Activity Map, Find Out More, Glossary and Index.
The biggest thrill for kids (and adults!) will be to see photographs of what computers looked like in the not-so-distant past.The photos included are so historically interesting and well chosen. The photos in the beginning of this chronological time line are sepia colored and as the book progresses to the current day, the pictures are in full color.
... Read more

Product Description
This groundbreaking book presents a global perspective on the history of forced migration over three centuries and illuminates the centrality of these vast movements of people in the making of the modern world. Highly original essays from renowned international scholars trace the history of slaves, indentured servants, transported convicts, bonded soldiers, trafficked women, and coolie and Kanaka labor across the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. They depict the cruelty of the captivity, torture, terror, and death involved in the shipping of human cargo over the waterways of the world, which continues unabated to this day. At the same time, these essays highlight the forms of resistance and cultural creativity that have emerged from this violent history. Together, the essays accomplish what no single author could provide: a truly global context for understanding the experience of men, women, and children forced into the violent and alienating experience of bonded labor in a strange new world. This pioneering volume also begins to chart a new role of the sea as a key site where history is made. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Slavery then and now
This excellent collection of essays more than lives up to its "Product Description." Its scope goes beyond the 3 centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade: it includes essays on slave trade in the South Pacific; forced labor and migration of Chinese, Indian and Irish people, as well as prisoners and sailors; slavery today; and links these histories of forced labor to the unfolding "needs" of global capitalism and the world that has emerged.

Many Middle Passages
Hello
When I am reading "Moby Dick" by H.Merville and "The Capital" by K.Marx,I encounter this book and rejoice. Between these two big books in 19th cencury,it seems to me,this book appears very naturally alongside the course of world history. I am a Japanese translator. And When I encountered American word "abolutionist" a few decades ago, I began to read a American history by David Brion Davis, and learned about American Slavery. I rejoice partly because I find the general name of Japanese over-sea sex-slave of 19th or 20th cencuries,karayuki-san in this book.
Flankly speaking I want to read a English book about yellow peril. If it appeared, I want to translate it into Japanese. ... Read more

Product Description
All of the libraries in the world-whether small or large, public or private-serve the same purpose: to preserve, cherish, or show off the riches of human knowledge. Now, for the first time, an internationally renowned photographer takes the reader on a journey to more than 20 of the most historic of these magical places, all architectural treasures. From the dramatic, baroque Library of the Institut de France in Paris, to the splendid Vatican Library in Rome; from the majestic Royal Library in El Escorial, Spain, to the famed New York Public Library, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece-here are some of the most exquisite libraries of the Western world.

Included are national, scholarly, and religious libraries from 12 countries, which have in common a distinguished heritage and an architectural setting that emphasizes art and culture. The accompanying text traces the history of libraries to the present day, and describes how they came to serve famous personalities and men of letters. Libraries must be counted among civilization's crowning achievements; this elegant book is a fitting tribute to that accomplishment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

fit the bill
i purchased this book for my son who recently got his MLIS degree. He was very pleased with it. The quality photos of libraries from around the world are stunning and the text to go along with the pictures is just right... not too lengthy, but giving enough info to keep your interest.

A beautiful collection
I bought this book for the pure beauty of it. I love having it as one of my first "grown-up" coffee table books. As a bibliophile, this is one book I truly enjoy having this in my collection.

Eye Candy
If you are not a world-hopping traveler, this book is a fine introduction to many countries of the world, and how they regard the presentation of the written word. Many world libraries are as fine as any cathedral, and these full color plates, some with double fold-outs, are stunning. A very fine coffee table book, with text that includes the history of each building, plus an accounting of how great book collections come to be. Well worth buying.

The Library as Sanctuary
The libraries presented here exude supreme reverence for the book and its contents as towering human achievements. One is hard-pressed to doubt the immortality of the texts contained within each binding. Despite the lofty craftsmanship of the art, architecture and the bindings themselves, they have served their purpose only if a reader has been invited, if not lured, to match their dignity. Invest the requisite exertion and time to read and contemplate the knowledge of great books, and you will find the lavishness of even these libraries lacking. Their material riches are first and foremost a catalyst for the enrichment of the soul through the act of reading.

Actually, I wasn't crazy about it (no fault of its own)
I got this book as a special holiday treat one year, and it is a marvelous book full of luscious photographs and histories of places that most of us will never see.In general though, the libraries, being Western European treasures of a certain age, are extremely ornate.As it happens, my taste in decor must be more serene -- I found too many of the photos to be unappealing(!)Or rather, the photos were beautiful, but the places were unappealing.The biggest exception to that surprising observation was the John Rylands Library, in Manchester, England, which I hope one day to visit.

I love books, and think that a book project of this nature is a fine thing, and it is a well made book.But I was left feeling unsatisfied.

I would have given it 3 stars, because I am sad that it leaves me so hungry, but truly it is no fault of this book.Buy it if you like it, only do please consider whether you really want it.It's a gorgeous coffee-table book, but, by the same token, it's a big, expensive thing to have laying about if you don't quite love it. ... Read more

Product Description
Making a unique collection accessible to scholars, The Hitler Library is a complete bibliography of Hitler's books currently in the Rare Book Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Pointing to seldom used sources in social and political history, including photo albums, honorary citizenship diplomas, and festschriften, as well as trade books given to Hitler, the volume offers a very private view of one of history's most evil figures. A scholarly introduction, a commentary, and transcriptions of the many handwritten dedications in the books, providing fascinating insights into the cult of the Fuhrer and the social history of the Third Reich are included. ... Read more

Product Description
Discover ancient African civilizations. Explore the devastating Middle Passage and see the famous March on Washington. Find the answers to your questions about African American history . . .

Did blacks fight in the Revolutionary War? See page 18.

What was the Underground Railroad? See page 30.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? See page 59.

What is the NAACP? See page 64.

What was the Harlem Renaissance? See page 77.

How did the civil rights movement begin? See page 112.

What was the Black Power movement? See page 131.

What is affirmative action? See page 146. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Every African American Child Should Have This Book
This book is an excellent resource for children and for adults. This book is full of detailed information and I like how it uses the question and answer to explain.I am glad that I got this book for my son and for my family. ... Read more

Product Description
Special Deluxe Leather Edition:Limited to 100 copies that have been hand bound in full leather and gold-tooled for the discriminating collector is priced at $275.00 ... Read more

Product Description
To say that graphic novels, comics, and other forms of sequential art have become a major part of popular culture and academia would be a vast understatement. Now an established component of library and archive collections across the globe, graphic novels are proving to be one of the last vestiges of the printed form actually gaining in popularity. Full of practical advice and innovative ideas for librarians, educators, and archivists, this book provides a wide-reaching look at how graphic novels and comics can be used to their full advantage in educational settings. Topics include: the historically tenuous relationship between comics and librarians; the aesthetic value of sequential art; the use of graphic novels in library outreach services; graphic novel collection evaluations for both American and Canadian libraries; tips and tricks for cataloging comics; and the swiftly growing realm of webcomics. ... Read more

Product Description
Describes the events of the Hindenberg airship disaster. Written in graphic-novel format. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Graphic History Book for Kids
This is a fun and interesting book I'm using in my ESOL class to teach American history.My students are mostly from China, Korea, and Japan so graphic novels are even more familiar to them than they are to many Americans.This format allows them to read about events in American History with less text to decipher and photographs to portray how people dressed in certain time periods.The events are more understanable to them and they can access more information about a subject.The Hindenburg Disaster is great because disasters are always intruiging and draws readers into famous events.This story is interesting to them. ... Read more

Product Description
The Outline of History is a library of man's knowledge of his own past - an authentic record of the history of nations represented by one of the keenest and most original mids of the century. Revised and brought up to date by Raymond Postgate and G.P. Wells. This volume comes to you in The French Empire Binding. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good read
This book was for my husband.He's a history buff and was very happy to get this book.

Where's the Other Volume
I will rate this unsatisfactory because I have yet to receive Volume 1, I did received Volume 2. Where the other is I do not know.

A Grand View of World History
H. G. Wells set a new standard for works of history with his "Outline of History" first published in 1920. While most histories tend to focus on a relatively narrow period of time (the American Civil War, the Crusades, etc.), Mr. Wells took a much broader view. He attempted, and largely succeeded, in giving a grand overview of world history. He may have gone a little too far, beginning with the creation of the world and the development of life, the early hominids and the first Homo Sapiens. What this work may lack in depth on a particular topic or era, he more than makes up for in the sweeping view of history - it really gallops along. For me it was like the view from the top of a mountain - a great, wide panorama, allowing you to see the "lay of the land" and relate all the elements you can see. You can't see the details of the trees, lakes and fields, but you see how they all fit together.

He also consciously tried to avoid a problem common to most Western historians, that is, a Eurocentric view of the world. He attempted to give a presentation as balanced as possible, showing the contributions to history of non-European peoples (particularly Asia and Africa).

Lastly, his writing style is very readable, even today. Although he was critizied by his contemporaries for "popularizing" history, he did show that history could be interesting and enjoyable.

There are multiple editions of this work, and it has been published as a single volume and as a two-volume set. All of them are readable, although I think I can detect a change of tone in later editions, more cynical and even melancholy in outlook. Despite some obvious flaws that can be pointed out by historians, it is an excellent overview, well worth reading. It would be a very appropriate basis for a senior high school history class or lower division college history class. ... Read more

Product Description
Shmuel Feiner's innovative book recreates the historical consciousness that fired the Haskalah-the Jewish Enlightenment movement. The proponents of this movement advocated that Jews should capture the spirit of the future and take their place in wider society, but as Jews-without denying their collective identity and without denying their past. Claiming historical legitimacy for their ideology and their vision of the future, they formulated an ethos of modernity that they projected on to the universal and the Jewish past alike.What was the image of the past that the maskilim shaped? What tactics underpinned their use of history? How did their historical awareness change and develop-from the inception of the Haskalah in Germany at the time of Mendelssohn and Wessely, through the centres of Haskalah in Austria, Galicia, and Russia, to the emergence of modern nationalism in the maskilic circles in eastern Europe in the last third of the nineteenth century?These are some of the questions raised in this fascinating exploration of an ideological approach to history which throws a searching new light on the Jewish Enlightenment movement and the emergence of Jewish historical consciousness more generally. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

delightful
particularly informative about the pre-colonial aspects of the Hudson River area, also the geology of the river itself

Influential milestone in raising awareness of HV ecology.
In the early chapters Boyle paints an idyllic picture of aprimeval forest paradise with sparse native population that livedmainly off the land and needed to engage in limited amount of agriculture.The arrival of the Europeans spelled immediate eruption of violence.Not that there was none among the native tribes.... Boyle continues with a twenty page historical sketch of the HV during the 400 years and the Valley's ecology was affected.After these two chapters he proceeds to describe each stretch of the Hudson starting with the Adirondack region along with the beauty and problems each area.At this point it becomes apparent that Boyle's main interest is fish because of good half of the book is devoted to angling and description of fish.This is somewhat puzzling in this edition in view of the preface that he wrote in 1979, ten years after the first publication of the book that (he) does not "eat any waterfowls taken from the Hudson River south of Hudson Falls because of likely contamination by PCB's or other chemicals." That part is explained in the Epilogue, 1968-1978.The amount of attention devoted to fishing and the warning in the end makes the book seem irrelevant or else a historical curiosity.In addition to the fishing lore which is at times interesting and informative--there are pages devoted to a single species, sturgeon, for example, including a recipe for making caviar, or bass, there is wrangling with industrial polluters, Con Edison, governments, State, Federal, Local who are always in cohoots with those they were to watch.There is the Storm King Mountain fiasco though the first edition of the book came out before that blew over.

This book gives a deep history of the Hudson River struggle.
Boyle's The Hudson River gives the amazing story of the Hudson River.Just about every species of animal life (fish, insects, and birds) from the rivers' origin to its mouth are disgussed.The Storm King plant and ConEdstruggle surfaces.A chapter is devoted to a local fisherman who knowsmore about the river than anyone else. It is too bad that this classic isout of print, for I suggest that any ecologist at heart should own a copy.(My copy was "borrowed" from my teacher, and shall return homecome the end of school.) Even if you do not live in New York State,or have no plans to ever go there, this book is an ecologist's dream.Notto put any other rivers down, but the Hudson River has the most incrediblehistory around. If you can actually find this now-rare book I strongly urgeyou to buy it. ... Read more

Product Description
Following what may be conventionally called the Jewish ethno-cultural model and tracing its performance throughout history, Alexander Militarev's book is the first scholarly attempt to apply a synthetic, comprehensive approach to the Jewish phenomenon an alternative to the metaphysical and religious ones and to evaluate it in the comparative context. In highlighting the unique and disproportionately great Jewish contributions (and the recent Russian Jewish contribution, in particular) to the human civilization, it poses as its main question: Why the Jews? Militarev dedicates his book to the analysis of the Jewish phenomenon, its manifold reasons and consequences, couched as an essay replete with unexpected conclusions and debatable hypotheses. Laying bare the kitchen of scholarly research, Militarev embarks on a scholarly adventure akin to a film-noir who-dunnit, complete with intrigue, the need for stringent self-control, inexorable doubts, the thrill of the chase after the enigmas solution. ... Read more

Product Description
In Chapters in Brazil's Colonial History, Capistrano de Abreu created an integrated history of Brazil in a landmark work of scholarship that is also a literary masterpiece. Abreu offers a startlingly modern analysis of the past, based on the role ofthe economy, settlement, and the occupation of the interior. In these pages, he combines sharp portraits of dramatic events--close fought battles against Dutch occupation in the 1650s, Indian resistance to often brutal internal expansion--with insightful social history. A master of Brazil's ethnographic landscape, he provides detailed sketches of daily life for Brazilians of all stripes.

Superbly translated by Arthur A. Brakel and edited by Stuart Schwartz and Fernando Novais, this Brazilian classic has never before available in English. Chapters in Brazil's Colonial History opens Brazil's rich, fascinating past to the general reader, and offers scholars access to a great turning point in historical scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Surprisingly fresh
In its choice of topics, this book is simliar in many ways to other history books from the early 20th Century. A lot of attention is paid to battles, and to catalogues of geographical data or descriptions. It's not an easy book to start with, if you're interested in understanding modern Brazil or its history.

But the descriptions of people and of the social climate, especially in the early and later parts of the book, are surprisingly fresh. There are some especially nice touches in the last chapter of the book, such as a few stanzas from a popular song written from the point of view of a famous steer. Also, the author has a wicked sense of humor that made me laugh out loud in a few places.

Capistrano de Abreu's sentences are shorter than typical for academic historians of a hundred years ago, with more punch and less purple prose. The translation is fluid and easy to read. The previous reviewer is right, though, about the sorely-felt absence of a map. I tried to follow along using a wall-sized folding map (1:5 million scale) and was able to muddle through, though many of the historical place-names didn't appear on my modern version. In any case, most of the passages where the place-names come fast and furious are less essential for enjoying the book.

Interesting Perspective
With many books written by American or other authors, this book has its own flavor: a brazilian flavor. Written by a Brazilian, he tells a story that does not embelish or take sides.A rather fine book!!

This book is neither more nor less than I had expected.
As a new student to Brazilianhistory, Ifound the book easy to read,andinteresting enough to finish in justabout one week.The authormoveschronologically through the periodin only 11 chapters with topics such as Discovery, The FirstConflicts, Fighting the Dutch, andSettlingthe Interior.I feel I nowknow as much about early Brazilianhistory asmost Brazilians do. Having a world atlas with DETAILEDmaps of Brazilnearby is a MUSTwhile reading.Throughout the bookthere are hundredsof references tovarious rivers, mountain ranges andcoves, but not asingle map.Thisbook is 270 pages long. ... Read more